Hi All,
I am working with a green team in an organization and helping them develop their sustainability strategic plan. The team is developing their sustainability vision, goals and initial action plan. I believe it is extremely important for the success of the program to involve all employees in the company (including senior level management) and get their 'buy-in' or involvement. Has anyone developed an effective strategy/program to get buy-in from employees and management outside a green team? I am looking for specific strategies and ideas to engage members in a sustainability program so that they all feel connected and part of the entire process. Thank you for the assistance!
Cheers,
Miriam
Miriam Karell
Three Point Vision
[email protected]
415.318.9719
www.threepointvision.com
Research: http://www.partnerships4SSD.blogspot.com
Ways to Get Buy-in Outside Green Team
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Hi Miriam,
I would suggest you consider approaching your program from a change management perspective (this is how we do it with our clients). Engaging employees in a sustainability program is really tied to cultural change within most organizations. John Kotter is an excellent resource for managing change related programs. I would encourage you to check out his book, Leading Change. He uses an eight stage process which includes such steps as: establishing a sense of urgency, removing obstacles, generating short term wins, modeling the desired behaviour, etc. Also, with respect to getting buy in from you senior leadership, have you considered asking them to sign off on your vision, goals and action plan? With our clients we do our strategic visioning process in the form of a wall map. Then we have the senior leadership put their signatures on the map - borrowing from the commitment page of community social marketing - to show the organization, publicly, that they are committed to the vision and the process.
Hope this helps,
Jennifer Davis
Consultant Strategic Connections Inc.
Suite 1410, 1130 West Pender St.
Vancouver, BC V6E 4A4
ph: 604.684.2429
fax: 604.684.2430
Have you looked at the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) Go Green program?It's an affordable, long term strategy with goals and third party assessment. It is a way of accounting for savings that come with "going green" -- things like the reduced cost of electricity when light bulbs are switched to fluorescent, as well as getting credit for things like low VOC paint, regular filter inspection and maintenance and using non-toxic cleaning products -- al of which improve indoor air quality (IAQ) and reduce employee sick days. Go Green support includes notices and strategies for recycling... It's quite comprehensive, and you don't have to start with a LEED certified building to get involved (although a good quality facility will make your life easier)
(Bonus: Buildings with a Go Green certification can charge higher rents to tenants) Worth checking out Susan in Calgary (no affiliation to BOMA or Go Green, I just used it as a research project last year)
We have heard from companies that have experienced increased buy-in to company initiatives following program efforts which benefit employees personally. In other words, providing employees with a residential program which helps them save money on their personal bills then sets the stage for a workplace initiative. I'm not aware of more than isolated anecdotal examples of this, but our company is beginning to see greater interest in this idea of benefiting the home first/workplace second educational process.
Dave Munk
Program Manager
Resource Action Programs
800-465-5095
Greetings.
The senior level management should already be heavily involved and amongst the prime movers of the greening of your company. Your CEO and CFO should be directly involved in the visioning process and in communicating their expectations of sustainability to their staff. Otherwise your program will not get as far as you would like.
My $.02
Tom
Tom Shelley
118 E. Court St.
Ithaca, NY 14850
607 342-0864
[email protected]
http://www.myspace.com/99319958
I agree with all - and with the concepts of needing support and visioning from senior levels, and ideas as to how things can be implemented at ground level from front line staff. Also investment in their expertise - training, outreach, team activities; one of our business member green hotels takes their staff ( in staff time, as are all the green team meetings) to eg landfill sites, recycling centres etc; and we also offer training with a qualification (the BTEC in Sustainable Tourism) to our member businesses, plus Train the Trainer qualifications so that one staff member can train the others. Then they ALL feel like they know what they're talking about; and that their green efforts are being invested in, and are worth something to the company. Good luck!
Cheers,
Manda
Manda Brookman
Director
CoaST: Cornwall Sustainable Tourism
Project Penstraze Business Centre,
Truro, Cornwall, UK TR4 8HY
t: 01872 562 057/0845 203 7070
f: 01872 560 450
m: 07816 061 780
w: www.coastproject.co.uk